Page 67 of Blood and Magic
I licked her wound, sealing over the bite marks as we both came to our senses, and then I rolled us so she was on top of me, her legs on either side of my hips.
“Fuck, that was amazing,” she said. “You’re so beautiful when you come.”
I panted, my head woozy from both the exertion and the euphoria in her blood.
And then reality caught up to me.
I drank from her. I drank her blood.
Fuck.
What if Kodiak is right? What if I’m…
My knot shrank as if it, too, was disturbed by this thought. Panicked, I yanked her off me and sat up, examining her neck.
“Are you hurt?” I asked. “Did I hurt you?”
“No,” she said, rubbing a hand over it. “It’s fine. It’s okay, Mill.”
No, it wasn’t okay. Shifters didn’t drink blood. They didn’t relish the sensation of coming and feeding at the same time.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
“C’mon.” I stood and yanked her up. “We should get back to the others.”
“Mill?” She furrowed her brows and made a sad attempt to cover herself with her arms, crossing them over her breasts. “What’s wrong?”
I licked my lips, shame coiling deep in my gut when I tasted caramel and metal. I was a danger to her. One of these days, I wouldn’t be able to stop. One of these days, I would drain her dry.
“Fuck, Maeve,” I said. “You should stay away from me.”
“What?” Her features broke, damn near crumbling right in front of me. “Why would you say that?”
“This can’t happen again,” I gestured between us, the anger boiling over, carrying words I didn’t mean. “This is a new level of stupid, even for you.”
She squared her jaw, widening her eyes with intensifying fury dancing behind them. “You’re a fucking prick, you know that?”
Maeve shoved my shoulders and pushed past me, making her way down to where the pack had shifted. Once again, I gave her a head start before I followed from a safe distance, not wanting her to be left alone but knowing I couldn’t get any closer.
I didn’t know what was happening to me, but Maeve deserved better, and always had.
CHAPTER 21
Maeve
Fucking men.
I blinked back tears as I sat in the passenger seat of my sister’s Range Rover. After returning to the clearing and shoving my clothes back on, I found Guin talking to Kodiak. She took one look at me, glared at Vermillion, and wrapped an arm around my shoulders to walk me back to the homestead. We wasted no time heading to the ranch. Mill, Fenris, and Columba said they’d meet us there, but I didn’t care what happened to them.
How dare he? How dare he love my body so fully, so completely, and then dismiss me, telling me it was better for me to stay away from him? He didn’t know what was suitable for himself half the damned time. Why should I listen to a thing he said?
My heart thumped in my chest, nearly breaking as I tried to hold myself together. I didn’t know why I was so upset. We barely had anything. All that talk about me being different, about it being different between us, was just bullshit.
But I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something to it. Even now, his magic hummed in my veins, raw and potent, and the more distance I put between us, the more agitated this new side of me became.
Go back, it urged. He didn’t mean it. Can’t you feel how he’s breaking apart? Something’s wrong. He needs you.
“I can’t believe he bit you again,” Guin said. “That motherfucker. I swear, I’ll tear his throat out with my claws.”
